Love Fighter
by Fantastical Chaos
Summary: Sequel to Love Maker. There was once a girl and a boy. They were alike in so many ways. Yet at the same time, they couldn't be any more different. They were two sides of the same coin: meant to coexist, but never meant to see each other face-to-face. Three-shot.
1. Part 1

**Disclaimer: I in no way, shape, or form own Vocaloid. Each character used belongs to the respective company that produced him/her; I merely borrowed them for non-profit entertainment purposes. The Hatsune Miku song Streaming Heart, of which this fanfic is based, belongs to DECO*27. Please give credit to him and check out the original song. It's amazing.** **Regardless, I do claim ownership to the cover art and words below. Please enjoy.**

* * *

 **There was once a girl and a boy.**

 **They were alike in so many ways.**

 **Yet at the same time, they couldn't be any more different.**

 **They were two sides of the same coin: meant to coexist, but never meant to see each other face-to-face.**

 **Then one day, the girl turned around.**

Gray. That was all I could see. Gray walls. Gray floors. Gray ceiling. Even my attire consisted of nothing but gray. The buttons were just as gray as the rest of the material. These weren't shades of gray, either. Just a single . . . solid . . . gray.

It was the color of no belonging.

The Streamers associated with gray for obvious reasons. Love Makers wore white to symbolize their purity. Love Wreckers wore black to symbolize their tainted souls. Streamers wore gray to symbolize that no matter how much they desired it, they didn't belong. Not with the Love people. Not with the humans. Nowhere.

Even then, as I wore that same bland shade of misery, I knew that the physical representation was long overdue. Never once did I fool myself into thinking that I belonged with the Love Makers. I could pretend – sing and smile and act as if the world is a beautiful place – but no matter how much I had Rin fooled, I could never fool myself. All that time, I was nothing more than a fake.

"Len Kagamine." The voice was demanding with authority it didn't have. My cell door opened, and in stepped a ginger with fire eyes and a self-righteous smirk. How I wanted to smash her face in right then and there. "He would like to see you now."

Without a word, I rose to my feet and followed the Streamer. She wore gray because of who she is. I wore gray because of who I was made to be. One of us was born, and the other was created. It was reason enough to hate her.

"He has a very . . . interesting task for you," the one leading me said, her words uncertain but firm. I was introduced to her when I was first brought to this hell, but I never could remember her name. Asking never crossed my mind. I didn't bother to care.

"He can kiss my-" I began, but the ginger didn't let me finish.

"Yes," she said with snapping words, "he's very well aware of your suggestion that he plant his lips against your behind. However, he's even less tolerable of the phrase now than he was the first twenty times you said it."

"Funny." I cocked my head to the side. "I thought I said it many more times than that."

"You're insufferable."

"You would be too if you spent the past thirty days in 'rehabilitation.'"

She didn't argue. How could she? Never once has she been treated as a guinea pig. Nobody used her to play God. As difficult as her life might have been, she didn't ever have anyone look at her and say, "Let's see how it reacts when we do this."

"I recommend you shed this attitude before you speak to him," the ginger ordered more than suggested. "He's not in the mood."

"One, I'm not scared of him, and two, what makes you think I'm any more in the mood?" My emotions were high. Everything burned. I was trapped inside myself.

Eating me. That's what was happening. The thoughts were eating me. Anger, hatred, rage – I couldn't feel anything else. All I was never had any importance. I was nothing more than an experiment. No love or sympathy was ever given towards me. This world gave me nothing, so I owed it nothing. I felt so strongly that the darkness inside of me begged to come out, and it was directed towards the girl in front of me.

Her back was exposed. It was too easy. I reached for her, grabbed her just above the elbow and threw her down. She was too surprised at first to scream, but when she made that intake of air, I jumped on top of her and wrapped my fingers around her throat. I squeezed tightly. Her eyes bulged. I hated the sight so much that I used my grip on her neck to slam her head against the concrete floors again and again. Those hideous gray floors. Her skull cracked with each meeting, and soon that awful gray was painted with a beautiful red. The crimson liquid spread like wildfire. I continued to slam the ginger's head against the stained ground, encouraging the outpour of blood, and squeezed her neck tighter and tighter with each movement. Her neck collapsed beneath my fingers. The stench from her body relaxing assaulted my nostrils. I didn't stop. I couldn't stop. I would get my anger out on her, and then him, and then I will break out and snap the necks of all who try to stop me. I would-

"Len Kagamine!"

I snapped out of my daze and looked into the eyes of the ginger. Alive eyes, intact to an unbroken skull, attached to a strong neck. The ginger was all right. She looked at me with concern and fear, but she was all right.

The next thing I noticed was my clenched fists. Peeling open my fingers, I saw blood leak through the open crescent marks on my palms. I didn't hurt her. I didn't kill her. The truth almost made me faint.

She was okay. _I didn't kill her._ It seemed so real, and how I felt during my fantasy terrified me. I never killed anyone before. Was it only a matter of time before that changed, too?

Before I would think of happy things, such as the beauty of two people happily in love. The best way to distract oneself from the negative was to dwell on the positive, and for years that had worked. Now the thought of joy and happiness disgusted me. It made me too much of a Love Maker. For the past thirty days I was conditioned out of my old ways of thinking – anything to make me fear what society stressed as most important. Happiness is an illusion of the fickle human mind: no matter how much you have, you will always want more.

Tell me, are you satisfied with your life right now? What are you looking for that you believe will make you happy? When – or perhaps I should say if – you obtain it, will you never have want or need of anything else ever again?

Of course not. You'll want more. The human description of "happiness" is so temporary. Sometimes you're so busy trying to get more in order to make you happy that you forget all about the things you still have that supposedly once made you happy. You're a black hole wanting more and more, constantly getting but never satisfied. After all, you are human.

Now you see why Love Wreckers hate humans so much? I do now. This realization had made me wonder why I ever wanted such selfish creatures to be happy in the first place.

Is it scary that in such a short amount of time, I changed so much I don't recognize who I am anymore?

The rest of the walk to his office was uneventful. I didn't fantasize about killing the ginger again. I didn't even think of her. Instead I thought of two other girls.

First was my sister. Rin. The circumstances being what they were, I wondered if her sacrifice was for naught. What she went through for my sake has now been passed to me, but in acute bursts instead of chronic lessons. What I dodged as a kid I suffered then. How did she, someone who was never meant to know this life, endure it for eighteen years? How did she live it now? I wanted to see her and hold her close, cry into the crook her neck and apologize for everything I said the last time we spoke. I hurt her in many ways, most unforgivable. Where was she in that moment? What was she doing? Was she thinking of me? Was she worried that she hadn't seen me since that day? Did she even care?

The other girl I thought about was Miku. I didn't know what happened to her since we were abducted what felt like a lifetime ago. Was she all right? Did they torment her also? This was all my fault, I knew. Did she know it? I hoped so.

"Len." The so-called boss of this place greeted me like a cockroach crushed against his favorite pair of business shoes.

"Leon," I returned. The ginger gasped. For some reason this man did not like to be addressed by his name. I didn't care. This isn't some fantasy story where the villain is so wicked that he's commonly known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or some crud like that. What's so terrifying about a name? A name is nothing more than a sound or noise spoken to identify a person. Unless you're God, your name means absolutely nothing.

I'd apologize, but I'm not the tiniest bit sorry.

Looking at me as if he's smite me if I wasn't a valuable part of his research, Leon told the ginger, "Thank you, Miki. That will be all." When she had gone, he said to me, "You're quite grouchy today. Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"

"Cut the crap," I snarled, teeth showing. I didn't sit in the chair across his cherry wood desk. I pretended it wasn't there. Standing interested me more: Leon had to look up to me this way. "What do you want? I was in the middle of counting the tiles on the ceiling of my room for the fifty-seventh time when your pretty little messenger interrupted me. Perhaps I forgot to tell you that I don't like to be interrupted when I'm counting."

Leon didn't blink. "Your little friend escaped."

That was enough to throw me back. So much, in fact, that I didn't immediately realize that I collapsed in the chair I just refused. "What?"

"Your little friend. Miku Hatsune." Whether for show or not, Leon made a point in picking up a slim folder and flipping through its documents. "She was captured and brought in with you, if you recall. Eighteen, turquoise hair, five-feet two-inches. Beautiful to look at but more vulgar than a truck driver when somebody insults his classical music CDs." Returning his gaze towards me, Leon said, "She escaped last night. Influenced her guards to commit suicide. It's super inconvenient that adults are far harder to bind than children. The poor, misguided girl has no idea what she's capable of."

"I think she would have a pretty solid idea of her skills if she can escape this awful place without getting caught."

Though it showed otherwise, I like to think that Leon found my observation amusing. "I need you to get her."

I was taken aback but then irritated by the solid statement that demanded me not to question it. "Why me?"

"She's too dangerous." Again Leon flipped through the folder. "Nightmares, rage, and violence all mark up her records. She has had zero experiences with Love People and the Love World until your sister brought Miku's existence to our attention. If not for your sister, Miku wouldn't even be where she is right now. She wouldn't know what she is, and she wouldn't be screaming about her desire to watch the world burn as she burned with it. Thinking that you're a measly, powerless human is nothing. A Love Wrecker that hasn't been bounded and is as new to her abilities as a toddler is to walking is something else entirely."

"So why send me of all people after her?" I asked. "What makes you think that I won't use this as an opportunity to escape? Hell, at this point, I'd be down to watching the world burn with Miku, laughing as everyone screamed in the unquenchable flames, and laughing as my own miserable existence came to its end."

Leon narrowed his eyes, looking at me through slits. "Miku won't hurt you," he answered. "How could she? Of course after you failed to watch out for her, you might not be her favorite person as of this moment . . . However, she does care for you."

"That doesn't mean anything," I spat, but Leon had a response.

"Yes, it does. I know you've watched her from afar for years. We all do. You've always had feelings for the sweet girl who helped you so many years ago."

I instinctively growled. How he knew, I didn't stop to think about it. Doing so would make me angrier, a bad thing since murder was looking like a good idea at that moment. "Let's just get back to the point. Miku escaped, and you think that I have the best chance of reaching her without losing a limb or two. But I still don't understand why you would risk me getting out. You lost one guinea pig, so why take your chances with your last?"

"That, my dear Len, is a question with an incredibly easy answer." Leon leaned forward. "There is still a certain someone out there who is just as subjected to being my 'guinea pig' as you and Miku are." My heart began to sink; I knew where this was going. "Up until this point, I have ignored her. The truth is, she doesn't interest me so much – at least not compared to you two. However, don't think I'm above ripping her out of her daily life for the same purposes I have ripped you and Miku from yours."

Bolting to my feet, I slammed the palms of my hands onto the table and stood over Leon. "You so much as look at my sister, and I swear to God I will dismember you in the most painful ways known to mankind."

Despite my outburst, Leon didn't seem phased. "Sit down, Len." Reluctantly, I did as he ordered without a word. "We won't touch your precious sister as long as you agree with these terms." Leon set Miku's file down. "Go find Miku, and I don't know or care how, but bring her back. You will be given ten days to perform this errand. Show up late, without Miku, or not at all, and your sister will say goodbye to the life she knows for once and for all. Also, don't think to warn her. Remember that I said that she doesn't interest me as much as you or Miku. If she hides herself and becomes difficult to capture, just know that my men will be ordered to shoot on sight. I won't miss her, but you will."

"You're a monster," I mumbled quietly. If Leon heard me, he didn't let on. I didn't want to believe what was happening. I wanted to believe that I was having a nightmare and at any minute I would wake up. I wouldn't be held prisoner, Rin's life wouldn't be on the line, and – as much as I didn't want to admit it even to myself – Miku would be going on before Rin ever found her and Kaito's toxic relationship.

Rin may have caught on that I cared a little too much for Miku, but she was blind to just what exactly Miku was to me.

"So," Leon dragged, forcing my focus back towards him, "do we have a deal?"

I craved like a wild animal to punch him, kick him, and rip out his eyes – but not until I made him watch as everything he loved was destroyed beyond repair. He did this to me. To Rin. To Miku. Experiments, that's what we always were to him and his people. What Rin and I did was never a secret like we imagined it to be, and the promises I made to Miku in a dream long ago were not hidden. Leon knew everything, and it is why I hate him so much.

Straightening myself in my seat, I made direct eye contact and calmly gave my reply. "We have a deal."

* * *

 **One pure; one wicked.**

 **One an angel; one a demon.**

 **One love; one hate.**

 **So was the boy and girl's relationship. She turned around and met him, something that never should have been done. For always and forever the two were never supposed to understand the other. Born together but to get along as strangers was to be their fate, but they rebelled against nature.**

 **The girl was a monster for the boy, and the boy loved the girl with a heart he wasn't meant to have. Knowing the other destroyed them, but if they had to do it all over again, they wouldn't choose any other way.**

I didn't know where to find Miku. Ten days was an incredibly short time to hunt her down when I had absolutely zero leads to go on. What else could I do but search places she had previously been?

Day one I traveled to her old home. I spent hours there, hoping against hope that something, anything would lead me to Miku. All I discovered was that her parents hadn't heard from her since her initial disappearance. They didn't think much of their daughter's five-week absence; apparently, Miku had a habit of running away and communicating with nobody when she was in one of her moods.

The next two days revolved around my trying the clothing store in which she was employed, the college in which she studied, and the library in which she spent most of her weekends. It embarrasses me to admit I know a lot about Miku's former life. I was so infatuated with her that even those moments I knew the extent to be unhealthy. I feel like a stalker admitting these things. I wanted nothing more than her safety – I couldn't sleep if I didn't know her well-being.

I can see how you judge me, though you try to hide it. How could I have such strong feelings for her yet never bring myself to approach her since the first and last time we met? Easy. I lied to myself. I convinced myself that none of it happened. My extreme interest in her had to do with my slight obsession with human behavior. My guilt over my relationship with Gumi was rooted in the fact I hid what I was from her. My heartbreak when Miku and Kaito first got together wasn't heartbreak at all, just sadness that as a proclaimed Love Maker, I couldn't play any part in their break-up.

Ironically, it was that last thought that gave me the final clue I needed in locating Miku. I stood in front of the door and leaned against the railing as the warming air rushed past in a dancing wind. The apartment was on the third floor, facing the road. Not an amazing place to live, but still decent enough to be a home for those with small incomes.

"I didn't think I would ever see you again."

Turning around, I found crystal blue eyes meeting mine behind their glass frames. At first they were wide with surprise, but then they narrowed so fast that I question whether or not I imagined Miku's shock at running into me in front of Kaito's apartment.

Her turquoise hair had been cut, and I didn't know if it was done to her shortly after our capture or something she did herself when she escaped. She dressed in white jean shorts that stopped mid-thigh and an oversized, bright green T-shirt tied at the hem. Also leaning against the railing, Miku looked me over as if studying me, as if deciding if I was really there or just a figment of her imagination.

Not knowing how to reply to her, I simply stated, "I've been looking for you." It wasn't a lie. It just wasn't the whole truth. Miku didn't answer me. She just stared, her thoughts a closely guarded secret. "I'm so sorry." The words came out of my mouth as no more than a whisper.

"You failed to protect me, even after you promised to." The words of accusation stung. What didn't hurt was that Miku said them, but that they were the truth.

"I know."

"You can't make up for the days that followed."

"I know."

"You have no right to be forgiven."

"I know."

Miku said nothing, her brows furrowed in frustration. She had probably hoped that I would disagree with her. If I didn't accept what she said, she could yell otherwise at me. An argument would have broken out, and that would have been what she wanted.

I didn't blame her. At that moment, I wanted an excuse to scream and shout, too. So much anger had built up in all that time for me as well, and I desperately needed an outlet to take it out on.

The words that fell out of my mouth then were ones I didn't want to speak, didn't want to believe. "We need to go back."

Stiffening, Miku growled, "I am not going back. You can't make me."

I could have. She had no training. How effortless it would have been to throw my heavier body into her smaller one. It wouldn't have taken an expert to realize that I excelled Miku in weight, strength, and what was on the line if we failed. It would have been nothing to tackle Miku and hold her down kicking and screaming. I could hit her if she fought too hard. Her hair, though now cut to her shoulders, was still long enough for me to drag her by if necessary. Regardless if she gave in or not, I had her. She could run, she could hide, but she could not fight. Bounded or not, she still didn't have a full grasp of her abilities.

Deciding to just be honest, I admitted, "They are threatening Rin. Either I take you back, or Rin is captured as well. They might kill her if they see fit. Please don't think this is a decision I find easy."

Miku snorted. "Of course you choose Rin. Everything you ever did for me was really all for her, and now that the decision is her or me, it's her. I . . . I can't say I'm surprised."

As I threw my hands up, I exclaimed, "You think I like this any more than you?! I have to go back, too. I have to continue that awful 'rehabilitation,' too. Nowhere in my oral contract will I be granted freedom if I return you. We both go back, or Rin suffers and we both live on the run." Narrowing my eyes, I added, "I'd rather choose the option that will end well for at least one of us."

Before Miku could answer, the apartment door opened. I cringed, but Miku didn't react. When Kaito and a brunette I remembered seeing before long ago walked out, I was surprised they didn't react to Miku and me standing just outside. Then I remembered that I was not in my physical form. I looked at Miku, surprised. If neither of the humans saw her, then Miku was also not in her physical form.

"How did you . . . ?" I trailed off, not knowing how to word my question. But Miku understood.

"Sometimes the nightmares got so bad I couldn't sleep." She crossed her arms and rubbed the flesh above her elbows. "What else to do in nights filled with insomnia other than practice what you didn't know you were capable of doing?"

I didn't reply, and Miku turned her attention to the couple descending the stairs. She followed after them, and I her. Whoever this new girl was, Kaito seemed happy with her. Without asking, I knew Miku was wondering why a jerk like him got to be happy why she's been miserable all this time.

I don't know what Kaito and this girl talked about. I was so focused on Miku, it didn't occur to me to try to understand this new relationship. Who brought these two together? Did the Love Maker know of Kaito's previous abusive nature? What about the girl? Was she all right? Did Kaito make a turn for the better? I hoped so, for her sake.

"Hey, Len," Miku said long after we stopped outside of a burger joint. Kaito and his girlfriend went in, but Miku and I stayed out in the spring air. When I didn't respond, Miku continued, "I'll make you a deal."

Shifting uneasily where I stood, I asked, "What kind of deal?"

"A mixture between a competition and a bargain. A game really," Miku answered. "Let's break Kaito and Meiko up."

My eyebrows shot to the top of my forehead. "What?!"

Without acknowledging my surprise, Miku stepped forward as she kept her eyes locked on the window. She looked in at the couple. What was running through her head, I could never guess. "I want my revenge," Miku explained. "I want to make Kaito's life as awful as he made mine, or at least as awful as I can make it. I had spent the past few days thinking that Meiko, his new girlfriend, will be the excellent tool to do so."

"Miku," I took a step forward, "we don't have power over free will. You can't make Meiko do anything she doesn't want to do."

"No," Miku agreed, "but I can convince her to want to do the things I want her to do." Tearing her eyes away from the window, Miku said, "I don't want to go back, but if I'm being perfectly honest with myself, I don't want anyone to die for my sake either. So, I propose play this game."

"Do I really want to know what kind of game this is?"

"Of course you do. How else would you know how to play?" Miku smiled softly, but it was clearly forced. "I side with Meiko, and you side with Kaito. The goal is to make the other hate who we're sided with – for example, my goal is to get Kaito to hate Meiko because of the way she treats him and talks to him. First person to make the other hate your side wins. If you win, I'll go back with you. No fighting, tears, or attempts at escape. I will join you willingly." Then she looked away. "But if I win, I get to go free. You can't come after me again, or I will kill myself. Don't think I won't take such extreme measures to avoid capture. I know I'm wanted alive, so my death will neither benefit you nor them. Just me. I don't want to die, but I'd choose that over going back if I have to." Again, she made eye contact. "I'll be fair if you win, but if I win, don't force me to death. I will do it."

I didn't question her. Miku would kill herself if she felt it necessary, and I knew it. She knew I knew it.

Turning my attention to Kaito and Meiko, I saw them enjoying themselves together. Eating burgers and drinking milkshakes like they had nothing to worry about. Truly, they had nothing to worry about. Well, nothing save Miku and me.

Miku meant what she said. All I had to do was get Meiko to hate Kaito without influencing Meiko's heart, and Miku would come with me. I didn't have to fight her, and Rin didn't have to suffer. The potential prize was enough. I didn't care for the humans I would hurt in the process. Honestly, they looked more like outlets for me to pour my frustration than they did people. I had so much to get out, and I saw a good reason to take it out on them. _Besides,_ I told myself, _this is ultimately for Rin's benefit. I would do anything for her, even become what she spent her whole life protecting me from becoming._

Eyes locked with Miku's, I gave her my answer with a question. "When do we start?"


	2. Part 2

**To protect her brother, the girl threw herself away.**

 **The angel became the demon. Her virtue was sacrificed for vanity. Who she was meant to be died before she could even be born.**

 **The girl sacrificed everything for her brother, yet it was all for naught.**

Miku and I spent the night on the apartment rooftops. Neither of us slept. I watched her to make sure she wouldn't escape, and she kept awake for fear that I would take her in her sleep. We could have gone elsewhere to spend the night, but there wasn't enough trust for us to not be within sight of each other.

Isn't it funny how before we could willingly sleep under the same roof, but now we didn't trust the other enough to even sleep in the same area?

We sat at opposite ends of the rooftop, just staring at each other. The wind graced by and caressed us both as if we were not the monsters we are, the monsters we were going to allow ourselves to be. When it passed, I ached with longing for its touch again. I felt so alone in that moment that all I desired was some form of comfort. Touch is comfort, and I would have accepted anything by that point. Even a burn resulting in sticking my hand in a fire would have done it.

"I'm scared," Miku quietly admitted. I didn't think she intended for me to hear, so I said nothing. I suppose not saying anything was the correct course of action, for she continued, "I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm afraid of what I will do – will convince Meiko to do. I don't know my own strength. I terrify myself."

Again I said nothing. Unlike Miku, I knew my own strength, and I had witnessed Rin break couples up plenty of times. I had more than a good idea of what I needed to do, but that didn't change how I lacked experience. Anything could happen.

Just realizing that made me aware of how scared I was, too.

Saying not another word, Miku lied down, rolled on her side, and stared at the stars. She only looked at me again when she, in the corner of her eye, caught me shifting positions. Once I settled back down – all I wanted to do was take my weight off one of my legs – Miku looked at me a second longer before returning her attention to the stars.

I looked upwards as well, wanting to know what it was so captivating about the heavenly bodies. Miku was transfixed. All I saw was balls of gas.

It's funny how distant Miku and I were. So close, yet so far away. We could understand the other's fears and pains if we just tried to, but we didn't. We went to a literal Hell on Earth; did we not deserve to have a drop of water quench our burning tongues? I knew, and I believe Miku knew it too, that the comfort we both needed was in each other. We knew it, but we never reached out.

Have you ever hated yourself so much that you refused what you needed? You hate yourself to the point of self-destruction. All Miku and I had to do was communicate, but we didn't so much as try. We wanted our suffering and loneliness to build up within us. We did it to pain ourselves even more, but also because bottling it up would make the explosion in taking it out on Meiko and Kaito even bigger.

"We really should sleep," I mumbled more to myself than to Miku.

"But we won't," she said.

With no reply save for a shrug, I lied down and continued to look towards the sky above. The sight was boring, but I hoped Miku found what she was looking for in those fiery dots.

* * *

 **There is no such thing as wholly good and wholly evil.**

 **There are no blacks or whites.**

 **Each and every one of us has many layers of gray shades.**

 **The girl knew it.**

 **The boy knew it.**

 **Both went to the extreme of their opposing nature - the girl evil, the boy good, but now it was time for the boy to submerge himself in what he was truly meant to be.**

If I slept any, I don't recall. The night dragged by slowly and painfully. Miku and I checked on each other often, but we didn't speak again. There was nothing more to be said.

That morning she and I entered Meiko's and Kaito's heart of hearts, respectively, so that we couldn't watch each other. If we influenced from the outside, our motives would be visible. We agreed it would be better to not work that way lest we direct our frustration on each other and not on our game.

The wait lasted from the time Meiko and Kaito got up to their sitting down for breakfast, and as the moments passed, still nothing happened. I didn't know at first what was taking so long, then it crossed my mind that Miku was waiting for me to make the first move. My heart racing, I tried to find something to offset Meiko. Rin had always said that she preferred her breakups to simmer slowly, but I didn't have the luxury of time. However, the advice was still good: Start small, and the end will be even better.

What I whispered to Kaito wasn't much, or anything at all, but it still produced an result I laughed at.

"The eggs taste like rubber," Kaito said. Realizing the words were out of his mouth, his fork froze midair. He slowly looked up to see Meiko staring at him with wide eyes. She didn't seem hurt, just genuinely surprised.

She replied, "Then maybe you should have cooked breakfast this morning," before returning to her meal as if the exchange was a normal one.

Exactly how a woman would react.

Wait a minute.

"I don't belong in the kitchen."

Yeah, I went there. What are you going to do about it?

Stabbing her scrambled eggs at random, Meiko replied, "You should be careful to make jokes about women in the kitchen. After all, that's where the big knives are."

I was so little acquainted with Meiko that I wondered if this was Miku influencing her or Meiko naturally having these comebacks. Though we can't necessarily put words in somebody else's mouth, we can still direct the conversation. My grip on Kaito was pretty loose, but I didn't know if Miku could say the same about Meiko. She could have been thinking these words up herself, or maybe she didn't do anything. I had no way of knowing, so I had to approach this whole game with caution.

Neither Kaito replied nor did I influence him to. This was merely a warm up, and I figured it to be a good idea to let Miku think she had this taken care of. Let her think she has a chance, and then swoop in and take it right from her. That was my strategy, and I was confident it would work.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Other than bickering here and there, Meiko and Kaito got along well enough in their daily lives. She went to work, and so did he. The only difference was Meiko had a mandatory meeting afterwards, so she would be home far later than Kaito.

"I'm home!" Meiko shouted as she walked through the door, bags of take-out food in her hands. She pushed the door shut with the ball of her foot and set the keys on the counter as carefully as she could without dropping the food.

"Something smells good," Kaito said, perking up from his seat on the couch. He was playing violent video games, no surprise. Rin told me about them after she broke Miku and Kaito up, but I thought the games sounded stupid. Then I saw them and wanted to try them myself. Go figure.

"I got your favorite," Meiko sang as she triumphantly held up one of the bags. "Orange chicken!"

"Oh, uh . . ." Kaito rubbed the back of his neck. "I already ate."

Meiko dropped her hand but still gripped the bag. "Even though you know that if one of us works late that person brings home take out? Kaito, we've done this without fail for months. Why did you not follow through this time? Or at least why didn't you text me so I would know to accept Luka's invitation to get a chicken sandwich? I haven't seen much of her since she got engaged, you know."

I felt a twinge of pain. I brought Luka and her fiancé together, and now here I was tearing Meiko and Kaito apart. Could I really be the same person now that I was then?

I didn't stop to find the answer.

There was no time to dwell on it. I had a job to do, a task to complete if I was to keep Rin safe. After all she had sacrificed for me, it would be the least I could do to throw myself away so that I may protect her.

The word "sorry" was on the tip of Kaito's tongue, but I couldn't let the word be spoken. "Don't apologize," I ordered. "She didn't have to come home to you right away. Who knows? Maybe Meiko fears what would happen if she left you alone for too long."

Inside his heart, Kaito went pale. He has a history of cheating, and I didn't need to be a mind reader to know what was running through his head. _Did Meiko find out? How? Does she think I'll cheat on her? Does she think she has to keep an eye on me? Does she not trust me anymore?_

"Or she pities you," I suggested. "For all you know, she believes you're incapable of enjoyment without her. If she went out with her friend, then she would have to leave you all by your lonesome self." I clicked my tongue. "Poor, lonely Kaito. His girlfriend won't think he's happy unless she's right there beside him."

Kaito was so invested in the seeds I planted that it wasn't until Meiko shouted "Are you listening to me?!" that he snapped out of it.

"What?" he asked, his expression the perfect example of a deer-in-the-headlights look.

Huffing, Meiko answered, "Never mind. I'll put your food in the fridge so you can have something for lunch tomorrow. Then I'm going to eat, shower, and go to bed."

"Without me?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Meiko made to cross her arms but stopped before she could crush the food. "You already ate, and you don't seem like you're going to bed anytime soon." Before Kaito could get a word in, Meiko added, "And you know I hate sharing the shower; don't act surprised that I would turn down a chance to shower with you."

For a moment I thought Kaito would say something in response, but instead he chose to remain quiet. As Meiko walked to the kitchen, Kaito pondered the thoughts I gave him. I lack the experience and skills to start the game off with a bang, but I thought I knew the paths to take to get the ending I desired.

That was all I needed to obtain the necessary confidence to advance to the next step.

* * *

 **Sometimes the boy wondered if the girl hated him. He lived the life she was supposed to live. She suffered the pain he was supposed to suffer. How was this fair to her?**

 **Yet never did she speak to him a word in malice. Never once did she voice blame. She knew her circumstances were the result of her own thinking, not the boy's.**

 **The girl never complained, but sometimes the boy wished she did.**

I should have hated it. I should have loathed what I was doing, what I was becoming. Yet I loved it.

I once asked Rin if breaking couples up was really all that fun, and I didn't like her answer at first. Except now I've begun to experience it personally, and I realize Rin was right. Something about leading Meiko and Kaito into an argument makes me feel giddy inside. The worst things get, the better the rush becomes. Now I see why Rin compared breaking couples up to drugs: I feared the moment I would have to stop with no hope of a future fix.

Digging around for something to use against Meiko proved useful. Apparently she was quite the harlot in high school, a fact she had confessed to Kaito three weeks into their relationship, just before things got serious. This was both my greatest strength and my greatest weakness in this game.

If I deemed it necessary, I could influence Kaito to use this delicate piece of Meiko's past against her. When someone tells you a dark piece of themselves and you swear it doesn't change how you view them, you don't go bringing it up like that. I'm not saying you should never, ever, under any circumstances mention this past again, but you shouldn't use it as a weapon. It wasn't as if Meiko wanted to be an unspoken prostitute - with parents constantly using any income they could to buy crack, the thirteen-year-old Meiko had to find some way to survive - but I would have to if time was running short. I had to get Meiko to hate Kaito, and this was my weapon to do it.

However, Kaito never told Meiko that he abused and later cheated on his previous girlfriend. What Miku didn't know was Kaito cheated with her on his girlfriend before her. Miku was at one point the other woman, a secret you can't tell her. But anyway, Miku knew that Kaito cheated on her, and she could convince Meiko to believe this fact without any physical evidence. It's women's intuition at its finest, and Kaito wouldn't be able to argue because it's the truth. He may use Meiko's past as a weapon, but she can also use his. He didn't trust her with such vital information, and nothing angers a woman more than realizing that her significant other has been keeping secrets.

That's what I thought about shortly after Meiko and Kaito's argument over, of all things, whether the dress Meiko must wear as the maid of honor made her look fat. All Kaito said was it made her hips look big - and I didn't even influence that! All I did was kept him from apologizing and explaining himself.

I also might have provoked him to call Meiko out on her eating habits when it comes to deserts.

Needless to say, there was some name calling and fingers pointing. Meiko told Kaito he could sleep on the couch, but Kaito instead snuck Meiko's apartment key off her ring and then locked the door after she left for work. I fled the scene after that. Just because I was trying to get Meiko to hate Kaito doesn't mean he had to be heartless. Whether he let her in or not after she returned was up to him. I didn't stick around to watch.

Instead I thought about what to do next. I didn't like who this game was turning me into. I didn't like who I'm supposed to be. Yet I kept giving in, diving deeper and deeper than before. Nothing stopped me from falling in to the lust the followed me now, whispering in my ear and begging me to let it in. I had a taste, and I wanted more. The temptation was so great. This is what my "rehabilitation" taught me to grasp onto. But I couldn't give in, yet I felt myself about to slip.

Little did I know the final push would come in that moment.

"Brother."

I didn't turn around. I knew Rin wasn't really there; I heard her words because I wanted to hear them that badly. If I turned around, it would be harder to pretend that she could hear me, too. "For somebody who told me to stay away, you sure follow me everywhere I go, Sister."

"Everything I did was to protect you. I never said my actions were the right ones."

"Didn't stop me from trusting you blindly."

Silence, and then, "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too." I buried my face in my hands. Mumbling through my palms, I said, "I miss you so much. You're my strength, Rin. You're the only rock I've ever known." I sat up again. "I know I never told you this before, but I look up to you more than any other person on this planet. I now know what you suffered and endured by taking my place. Rin, why didn't you tell me that they beat you, whipped you, and isolated you? Why didn't you tell me that they would send electric shocks to your body every time you had a happy thought? Why didn't you tell me? Why?

"Even back then I knew you were going through Hell just to protect me, but it's only now that I really _know_. It makes me respect you and look up to you even more. You chose to go through that, just for me." I laughed without humor. "But you're not really here. We pushed each other away, and no matter how much or how deeply you love someone, even that ocean of love can dry up and become a barren desert. We let that happen, and I don't know if we could ever go back."

I wanted to say more, but I couldn't find the words. When I tried to speak again, I choked on the sounds. Rin's voice didn't follow. I'm glad I didn't hear her, even if in that moment I would've done anything to have her sweet voice enter my ears. It was time to let go, and that included letting go of the one thing I held onto most.

When I finally rose and turned around, I was disappointed to see I truly was alone. I don't know what I expected. Rin was never there, and it was very unlikely that Miku would join me. I shouldn't have left Miku alone, but I didn't care. My trust for her may have been small, but I was willing to believe that she wouldn't use this opportunity to escape.

My trust had proven true when I found Miku outside the apartment complex. She just stood there, probably similar to the way I sat on that rooftop. Finally, "I waited for you to come back. There are more tricks I want to try, but it wouldn't be fair to play the game without my opponent there to retaliate." Slowly, she fixed her eyes on me. "Don't tell me you're too chicken to continue."

"No." I shook my head. "Just more engaged than before."

* * *

 **Little did the girl know she was the boy's most influential teacher. He studied her hate and mastered her venom. He would become who she was.**

 **And then he would be even more hateful and venomous than she.**

Time was running out. I only had three more days. Three days to save Rin, or to condemn her.

I couldn't fail now.

Yet as I influenced Kaito, I found myself wanting to outperform Rin. This falling sensation felt so pleasant, and I was too much of a weakling to fight it. I wanted to break Meiko worse than the way Rin broke Miku. Of course this meant I wanted to break Miku also. It's strange, isn't it? Why would I want to break the girl I loved?

Or did I even love her?

I can tell you how I fell in, but I still can't pinpoint how I fell out. However, I do know when I discovered it. Except that's for another time, so I'll hold onto that story for a little longer.

Because right now, I want to talk about how the words between Meiko and Kaito turned into violence.

"Am I the only one trying in this relationship?" Meiko demanded, tears threatening to spill from her honey eyes. I influenced Kaito to "forget" about the group date Meiko had set up for themselves and a few mutual friends. When your boyfriend fails to show up to a group date and you're left drinking by yourself, you can bet the aftermath isn't exactly going to be pleasant.

Never mind Kaito "forgot" about the date in favor of drinking and watching sports with one of his work friends.

I should probably explain that Kaito didn't forget, per se, but I managed to flood his mind with so much that he accepted the offer to a guys night without recalling that he already had plans. The event was important to him, and he would've gone if not for me, but we couldn't let that happen. We needed Meiko furious with him, and this was my way to do it.

"What do you mean you're the only one trying?!" Kaito snapped back. "Lately it's been one little thing after another with you. I try to apologize and make it up to you, but you won't even let me in."

"That's the thing," Meiko hissed. "You haven't apologized for anything. When was the last time the words 'I'm sorry' passed your lips? When was the last time you thought about how your actions would affect me?"

"This isn't all about you, Meiko!"

"No, but the things involving our relationship do impact me, Kaito!"

"Look, babe, if we can just sit down and talk this out-"

"Since when do you want to talk?"

"Well now is a pretty damn good time, don't you think?!"

It's funny how the problem here was a lack of communication, yet here they were communicating everything except what really mattered. It reminded me of Miku and myself. Where did our relationship stand? I didn't know, because I never asked. Would we be able to talk it through, or would we shout at each other just as we were having Meiko and Kaito do?

"I can't believe I'm arguing with such an arrogant asshole," Meiko muttered, her eyes locked with Kaito's. If there was more she wanted to say, she didn't say it.

Intensity was high. Kaito's muscles were tense. If I were Rin, I'd have Kaito provoke Meiko into saying something awful, awful enough to anger Kaito into slapping her. Except I'm not Rin, and Kaito's trying with all his might to not hurt Meiko the way he hurt Miku. Kaito still can't get over the fact he hit a girl, and he has no interest in repeating that mistake. Not ever again, especially with this girl he hated fighting with so much.

But I had a job to do, and something had to be done.

At least there's more than one way to skin a cat.

"I should've listened when Wil warned me about dating a slut."

Meiko moved faster than I've ever seen a human move before. Just hearing the smack of flesh meeting flesh was enough for me to feel the sting in my cheek, in my palm. The hurt, anger, and shock were thick as pea soup in the atmosphere.

All Kaito could do was stare at Meiko in total surprise. Meiko didn't look any different, just remained as angry and as frustrated as before. Finally, "I'm going to spend the night at Luka's. Maybe you can use the privacy to decide if you want to keep dating a slut."

Unable to bear the emotions anymore, I left Kaito's heart. Miku did the same with Meiko. We just stared at each other, both unable to process what had happened.

 _That was our fault, wasn't it?_ I wanted to ask. _We hurt them, and we're going to continue to hurt them and call it a game. I hope you're happy, because I don't know what I feel._

I didn't voice any of it. To this day, I still don't know if I truly was unable to ask, or if I was too scared to know Miku's answer to those questions.


	3. Part 3

**The boy the girl knew was gone.**

 **Did he ever truly exist?**

 **The boy wondered that sometimes.**

 **Nothing mattered. Not anymore. The boy had lost her. They would never be the same again.**

 **Now it was only a matter of time before the boy completely destroyed himself.**

I sat on the rooftop, hugging my knees to my chest. Miku sat with crossed legs, her forehead in her palms. As much as ruining Meiko and Kaito's relationship excited us and gave us both that irresistible rush, we still felt guilty in the aftershocks.

Miku was raised human, and I a Love Maker - we were brought up in environments that accepted and even praised empathy and compassion. We did what was in our nature to do - harm, scar, and destroy - but that didn't mean our ability to discern right from wrong was gone. Perhaps if we had been in "rehabilitation" a bit longer, then we couldn't feel the guilt. Except we did, and as awful as it was, I liked to think that in that moment, Miku was loathing herself just as much as I was.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked Miku. Her head shot up, her eyes locking with mine. "All I want to do is protect the only person who ever loved me - the real me," I continued. "Are you really this upset with Kaito that you still see ruining his current relationship necessary?"

Sniffing, Miku answered, "He hurt me. This is what he deserves."

"But what about Meiko?" I questioned. "How did she ever wrong you?"

For a moment I thought Miku wasn't going to answer. She bit her lower lip, looked away, and stared off into the distance. Finally, "She's in a relationship with the man I love. Or loved. I don't know my feelings anymore. The point is that girl is experiencing the happiness which should be mine. It's not fair."

"So she can't be happy because you're not happy, is that what you're saying?"

"Don't make me sound that terrible," Miku said, again looking at me. "She's no more deserving of love than I am, yet here we are. I still suffer from being alone, and she's got people who love her and support her constantly by her side. How's that right?"

I felt my posture relax and demeanor soften. "You are loved, Miku. I know you are, even if you can't feel it."

It's then Miku bursts into tears. Hugging herself, she buried her face in her arms. For a while all I hear is sobbing, and then, "How broken do I have to be to remain unable to believe that there's at least one person who loves me? I can't believe it, no matter how much I want to."

Lost for words, all I could do is say her name quietly as I fight the urge to reach out and stroke her cheek. Miku looked up then, and I saw how the broken floodgates of tears completely changed her face to one of utmost pity. Try as she might to hide her face behind her bangs, it wasn't enough to cover her blotchy cheeks.

I looked past her unkempt hair to the glassy eyes hidden beneath. Her orbs sparkled with tears, and a single escaping drop did not go unnoticed. Many time I've heard the term "ugly crying" used to describe someone in such an emotional state, but I couldn't use that term to define her. I still can't. As she opened her heart to me in that moment, she was the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.

That was the moment I realized my feelings for her were gone.

"You have no one to blame but yourself," I found myself saying.

Dumbstruck, Miku stopped mid-hiccup and asked, "What?"

"If nobody loves you, it's because you made yourself unlovable," I answered. "The girl I loved was strong willed and determined to be happy in life. The girl sitting in front of me now thinks she can ruin somebody else's happiness all because she doesn't have any of her own. She pities herself and thinks she's owed to be happy, to be loved. It's as if she doesn't know how to be positive or try to see the good in everything. It's all 'woe is me' and self-loathing. That girl . . ." I shook my head. "I can't love that girl. The girl I really loved is gone, and the girl in her place is not enough for me to hold on to."

Miku couldn't have looked more shocked if I slapped her. Disbelief flickered behind her eyes, then hurt, and finally anger. "Aren't you the one who told me to never give up on love?" she snarled. "I said that I wouldn't give up love for you, and now you say all this? What the actual hell, Len?"

Narrowing my eyes, I said evenly, "I told you not to give up on love because I believed there was a fighting chance the girl I cared for was still in there. Had I known the whiney girl you are now was all that was left, I wouldn't have even tried."

New tears prickle Miku's eyes. Not tears of sadness, but those of anger and rage. "You don't know what I've been through."

"That's no excuse! That's never an excuse!" I shouted. "You got upset at the thought that everything I did for you was for Rin. Though she's only half the reason, I still watched over you and fought for you because I found myself falling in love with you." Tears now flooded my eyes, but these weren't of anger like Miku's. These were the tears of loss, specifically of lost love. What would have happened if I entered Miku's life sooner? Would she still be the girl I found myself falling for, or was her becoming this person inevitable either way?

"Speaking of my sister," I continued, "you recall that 'rehabilitation' we spent thirty days going through? Well, she went through that Hell for eighteen freaking years! She was trained to not love and conditioned to take joy in others' pain, but you know what? Deep down, Rin hates who she is. She's sensitive, kind, and loyal. The façade she has adopted is an iron mask. Rin has all the reason in the world to hate me, but still she protects me with her life. Rin owes nobody anything, yet she only breaks up couples who need to separate - couples in abusive relationships like yours. What you went through doesn't hold a candle to what she's been through. She regardless holds herself together while you sit and complain." Narrowing my eyes, I added, "It's not what you go through that defines who you are. It's how you let it change you. Rin let her trials make her stronger. You let yours break you." I tightly closed my eyes and shook my head. "Perhaps if I interfered with your life sooner, I could have helped you, but it's too late now. There's nothing worth saving."

When I finished, I opened my eyes to find Miku shaking with rage. She hated me, I could see. She didn't like a single thing I told her, but I said nothing that wasn't true. I couldn't love this girl, even if I wanted to.

"Screw you," Miku said through gritted teeth. When I didn't reply, she shouted, "Are you just going to sit there and stare at me like that?! How could you say those things? If you really loved me, why weren't you there when I needed you? Why can't you be there now? I'm still the same person!"

"Didn't you hear me?" I whispered. "You're not that girl anymore. You've changed. You've hardened. I'm sorry I failed you, but that doesn't alter what I said."

Miku stared at me for a moment more before she burst into tears and ran away. I didn't want to, but I followed after her. I couldn't risk her escaping, especially now. Things were coming to a close, and I had to make sure Miku would stay for the end of it all.

* * *

 **It was time to let go.**

 **The boy the girl sacrificed her whole self for was gone.**

 **He didn't want to be gone, but he couldn't stop the changes from happening.**

 **There was no coming back from who he had become.**

 **All the boy could do was hope that the girl wouldn't hate him for it.**

When did I fall in love with Miku? Well, it was that stupid love-at-first-sight kind of puppy love. My feelings did grow as I afterwards loved her from afar, but they couldn't have been real if they disappeared the way they did. Looking back, I wished I never met Miku. I wasted so much time with her.

Anyway, I was fourteen, maybe fifteen. This was shortly after we Love Makers learned how to be a part of the physical world. My class was on Valentine's break - yeah, you heard me right. Stupid, isn't it, to take a break on Valentine's Day? Rin, whose class didn't take break because Love Wreckers don't celebrate such a useless holiday, skipped school altogether. Without our parents' knowledge, Rin and I went to the physical world to explore.

You have no idea how exciting it was for us at the time. The physical world was a fairytale to us up until that point, and going there was almost like falling into a storybook. We just had to visit the place with humans whose lives were as various as the colors of the rainbow. I miss those days, when Rin and I went on adventures like that. It was a simpler time.

It was also a chance to practice alternating my appearance for the physical world. I, for the first time in my life, dressed in something other than pure white. I wore light blue jeans, a deep red sweater, and gray sneakers. Of course the outfit was truly an illusion and not something I actually wore, but still. To me, not appearing in all white was the most rebellious thing I had ever done.

Not caring what anyone thought, as usual, Rin didn't alter her appearance when she took on her physical form. She remained dressed in all black. Black jeans, black T-shirt, black boots, black leather jacket - even the ponytail securing her braid, as her hair was much longer back then, was black. It wasn't that Rin cared to play with colors, but that she didn't care if she stood out. To her, it didn't matter what she wore as long as she got to explore.

"I don't know where to begin," I said in a rushed breath. There was so much to do. How could we decide our first adventure?

Rin smirked - she never smiled, just smirked. "I was thinking we find a shopping center. Any place with lots of stores. I want to observe the many types of people there are."

Of course, I was more than willing to agree. At the time, humans were a mystery to me. They didn't have the powers we had or the knowledge that we exist. _Did they really think they fell in love on their own?_ I had wondered.

According to legend, the first Love Makers and Love Wreckers were the children of the goddess of love and the god of war. Before the goddess intervened with human affairs, humans only married for business or political reasons. When she came to the realization that humans did not love as deeply as the gods, the goddess fell into despair. She wanted her worshippers to be capable of feeling for other humans what she felt for the war god.

For centuries, nothing changed. The god who she loved hated to see her in such agony. He may have not loved her the way she loved him, but he still cared enough for her. So together they devised a plan.

Love Makers would be born to persuade the humans to fall in love and experience the deep emotion previously known only to the gods, but this came at a price. Existing as a counterpart to the Love Makers would be Love Wreckers, beings bent on breaking this emotional connection between two people. The goddess feared the very thought of Love Wreckers, but she knew it was the price that had to be paid if humans were to experience the feelings she so desired them to have. Good can't exist without evil, neither can joy without pain. There must be two sides of a single coin, coexisting but never agreeing.

Somewhere in all of human mythology throughout the ages, this legend was lost. Whether or not it's true is up for debate, but at the time I believed it with all my heart. I wanted to share it with every human I met, but Rin was more intelligent than me. She knew that the humans could never know of our existence lest they be lead to believe that their free will is a lie.

"And they will kill us all," Rin said as we sat beside a water fountain. We had found a shopping center, and two hours of observation later, I was still transfixed by the many kinds and types of humans I saw. "Humans kill what they can't understand. We can't make them do what they don't want to do, but they will never see it that way," Rin continued. "It's in their nature, just as bringing people together and breaking them up is in ours."

I made the mistake of saying, "But we opposed our nature."

With a loud shush and a hard smack to the back of my head, Rin glared at me in warning. "Just because we're not in the Love World does not mean you can say things like that!" she hissed. "You never know who's listening."

Nodding and rubbing my sore scalp, I apologized and returned my attention to the humans. Rin was right, so I didn't argue. _Why did I say what I did?_

Not five minutes later, Rin said, "I'm jealous of the humans."

My mouth nearly dropped open. That wasn't like Rin to say. "Why?" I asked.

"They have more choices in life then we ever will," Rin answered. She tucked a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "Each and every one of us are born to be one thing; wanting to be something other than what we are is something we could never dare utter. Not for the humans. A human can be a doctor, policeman, artist, novelist, or anything they aim for. Us? Do what we're born to do and then teach the next generation to do what they're born to do. That's it. Brother, we're trapped in a never-ending cycle. Not the humans. Or at least not one as limited as ours."

What else could I do but wordlessly stare at my sister? Never before had Rin talked like that. It was as if she was a different person, but at the same time, I knew this was who she really is. Rin has always been a dreamer, and she's always been rebellious. Had she been born human, she would challenge and change the world. Training her to be a Love Wrecker was a waste of such passion and zeal, but what other choice did she have in her life?

"We could run away," I suggested. "We don't have to be a Love Wrecker and a Love Maker. We can be Rin and Len. We can be anything we want to be."

"But we will never be free. Not really, anyway," Rin whispered. I had never seen her so shaken up before. This wasn't the Rin most people knew. This was my Rin, and mine alone. Now here she was showing me even more of her, more emotional and more raw than before.

"We can try," I said. I reached out and took her hand. Immediately, Rin squeezed my fingers. She wasn't going to give in and go along with the idea, but she didn't stop herself from fantasizing. I could see that much.

"Brother," she began, a soft smile gracing her lips, "I want to be an artist. I want to paint, sketch, and create images with nothing but tools in my hand and scenes in my head.

"I want to dress in every color I can find. I want to play soccer and volleyball like a human girl, and I want to stay up late into the night reading novels. I want . . ." Rin trailed off. Closing her eyes to push back the oncoming tears, she whispered, "I want to help people, Len. I don't know how, but I want to help others live their lives to the fullest. I want to do good in the world. I want to do good, but I'm going to do bad. I will hurt people. I- I will hurt people and hurt myself in the process. That's my fate. I have nothing else."

Bringing Rin's hand to my lips, I kissed her cold fingers. "You can still do that," I replied. "I don't know how, but you will. You're a fighter, Rin. You will get what you want because you don't take no for an answer. Maybe nothing will be the way you imagine it, but that won't stop you."

"You really believe that?" Rin asked, opening her glassy eyes.

"With all my heart," I answered. I did believe it, and I was right. From there on, Rin allowed herself to get lost in things Love Wreckers are not supposed to do. She began to paint, read, and play sports, albeit in secret. Helping people came later, but never in the way she imagined.

What? You're saying this has nothing to do with Miku? Well, you're not wrong: I did get really sidetracked back there, but what Rin said hit me in the heart. While she went to the restroom, I gazed into nothingness.

Rin knew what she wanted in life. She had passions yet to be explored, dreams yet to be fulfilled. What did I have? Nothing. No dreams. No passions. I just passed by each and every day. What did it matter? I knew what I was going to be and going to do. Unlike my sister, I didn't feel trapped. I mean I wasn't exactly thrilled about becoming an active Love Maker, but I wasn't against it either. Perhaps I was lucky to not be born human; perhaps it was better for me to be told what I would do with my life. If I had to choose, would I have been able to?

The thought bothered me more than it should have. _Is something wrong with me?_ I wondered. _Why do I not have dreams and passions? Is it because of what I am? Do I have any free will of my life?_

You see, the thought terrified me. I wondered if I wasn't right, and that something was really, really wrong. I didn't feel like a living being, but a puppet who did and thought nothing save for what its master wanted. In this case, the puppeteer was the nature I had mentioned to Rin just moments before.

Tears began to flow from my eyes. I was rather sensitive and emotional back then, much more than a typically Love Maker is. Even now I hate admitting to what a crybaby I was, but nothing's ever going to change that.

"Why are you crying?"

I froze at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. Gently, I dried my eyes and looked at the girl gazing at me with concern. Her turquoise hair was tied into two tails, and I could tell through her giant, purple glasses that the girl's eyes were blue. She couldn't have been much older than me.

Reaching out slowly, the girl touched my shoulder and asked, "Are you all right? What happened? Are you alone?"

"I'm fine," I said, trying not to shake her off. I've never been this close to a human before, let alone been touched by one. This moment was as awkward as it was terrifying. Little did I know that Miku was never human in the first place.

"You're not fine. Nobody is ever fine." The girl sat next to me. "I'm Miku, by the way."

I thought it would be a good idea to not tell the girl my name, so when I introduced myself I said, "My name's Rei, and I don't need your company. My sister's here, and she'll be back as soon as she's done using the bathroom."

For a while the girl, Miku, said nothing. Then, "I'm the forgotten middle child. My older sister is exceptionally beautiful, and my younger is incredibly smart. Me? I may not be ugly or dumb, but I don't stand out in looks or brains. I have no talents, and people don't exactly find me likable."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked, not knowing why this human would say so much to someone she just met.

Miku shrugged. "I don't know what else to do except let you know that we all have our problems. Yeah, some aren't anywhere near as bad as others, but it's always nice to know you're not alone." She shrugged again. "Plus, talking about my issues always makes me feel better, especially since I'm under such constant comparison."

This girl both baffled and enchanted me. _So this is what humans were like?_ Wanting to know how she would respond, I said, "I don't know what my dreams or passions are. Really, it didn't strike me as different to be told what you're going to become until just now. Is that odd?"

"Strict parents?"

"Something like that."

Puckering her lips, Miku answered, "I guess it depends if you like what you're going to become. If not, then maybe you haven't tried other things enough to develop a like or dislike for them. Where do you stand with what you're told to be?"

It was my turn to shrug. "I don't know. I really haven't tried anything else."

"Is there anything you want to do?"

How was I supposed to answer? Even Rin knew that she wanted to be a human, yet here I was unsure if I wanted to be a Love Maker. "I think I could find something if I looked."

The answer wasn't a satisfying one, but Miku took it. "I want to make the world a better place," she said. "How an untalented person like me could do it, I don't know, but I want to try. I just don't want others to feel the pains I felt, not if I can help it. Is that weird?"

"I don't think there really is such a thing as weird," I replied, surprised at my own answer. Rolling with it, I continued, "Humans are as distinct as the colors of the rainbow, and each and every one is built and wired with a desire that they can't feel complete without accomplishing. If yours is 'weird,' then that means it's different. That difference is what makes you who you are. Don't let anyone try to change that in you."

For what felt like the longest time, Miku didn't respond. All I could do was assume Miku was turning the words over in her head, pondering them. Finally, "I hope you're right." Rising to her feet, Miku smiled at me and said, "I enjoyed talking to you, Rei. I hope we meet again."

I didn't say it, but as I watched her retreating figure, I hoped so too.

* * *

I failed Rin.

I failed Miku.

I failed myself.

I was nothing more than a failure. It's depressing how I went from being the best known Love Maker to becoming . . . this. Was there any redemption for me, or did I damn myself beyond hope?

I sometimes stopped to wonder where I went wrong. My history is filled with so many mistakes, but isn't everyone's? My past may not define me, but my choices do. What did my choices say about me?

You know what, don't answer that.

Breaking by the minute, I struggled to keep my frustration at bay. Meiko still didn't hate Kaito, nor did he hate her. Normally I'd applaud such a strong relationship. This instance I wanted to end them both. Seriously, murder was looking pretty good in that moment.

All the night before I fantasized about attacking Miku. I would throw myself at her, rip out chunks of her hair - and parts of her scalp in the process, and break her limbs so that she couldn't fight me, couldn't run from me. Then I would drag her back to that awful place, her pleas the soundtrack of the trip. Other times I would simply throw her off the building shortly before following after her. If I had to choose, I think I would rather go through with the murder and suicide over beating Miku senseless and kidnapping her. The one that ended with both our deaths would result in a shorter amount of time to feel the crushing guilt.

Such a fate was my last resort. That day was my last day, and if my weapon against Meiko didn't work, I had no other choice. It was all planned out just in case: Tonight Miku and I would sit on the rooftops just as we always did. We would most likely not talk since Miku still hated my guts, but we wouldn't be far apart. Out of the blue, I would stand abruptly as if something behind Miku caught me by surprise. Following my actions, Miku would jump to her feet and look behind her. While she's not focusing on me, I'll charge towards Miku, tackle her, and throw us both off the building. Because we're not human, we'll survive the fall and inevitable landing without a scratch. Because we're not human, I will take out the knife Miku didn't know I had and stab her in the heart. Then I'll turn the blade on myself before the life completely fades from her eyes. We'll die together, free from this misery.

Neither Miku nor I wanted to die, but I knew we both were willing if we became desperate enough to. Miku threatened her life before the start of this, so she's the one I thank for the idea. All I could do was hope that after Leon discovered we were dead, he wouldn't have any reason to hurt Rin. Perhaps he'd leave her alone, or perhaps he'd kidnap her to take Miku's and my places. There was no way of knowing, but at that point, I was willing to take the risk.

"I want to end this," Meiko said that morning during breakfast. She and Kaito hadn't done much talking since their fight. Because her stuff is here, Meiko came back so that she could shower and get ready for work without having to pack her hygiene items and work clothes to haul to Luka's house. Other than that, she got on as if she didn't live there.

A flicker of joy sparked in Kaito. "This fighting?" he asked, hopeful.

"This relationship," Meiko corrected, extinguishing Kaito's spark before it could become anything more.

Now that was a turn I should've seen coming. I don't know why neither Miku nor I considered the two breaking up as part of the game. If we did, I might have won right then. Only we didn't, so I had to push.

"Why are you saying this? Do you hate me?"

Sighing, Meiko answered, "I don't hate you." I wanted to slam my fist into her skull for saying that. "I just think it wouldn't be right to go on like this. If we do, we _will_ grow to hate each other."

It bothered me how calm Meiko was acting. What was Miku doing? How was this supposed to get Kaito to hate Meiko?

Of course I didn't see it coming.

"I know about Miku." Meiko didn't even blink. Kaito's heart stopped. I said every swear word known to mankind. "I ran into her last night," Meiko continued to say. That was sneaky of Miku, but it wasn't considered cheating: we didn't make speaking to either Meiko or Kaito in our physical forms against the rules. "She said the funniest things. She said . . . This girl told me that you abused her, hit her, and cheated on her with a fourteen-year-old girl. Kaito, is any of it true?"

Silence. Kaito worked his jaw. His lips were moving, but no words were coming out. Then, "I think the girl was fifteen."

Needless to say, Meiko lost it. She shot to her feet and began shouting the worst of profanities at Kaito. Unable to let him take it, I used the weapon.

"You're going to let a whore talk to you like this?" I questioned his heart. "You gave a used person like her a chance, and this is how she repays you?"

Other than changing "You" to "I" and "her" and "she" to "you," I was not expecting Kaito to repeat my last question word for word. The look on Meiko's face was pure betrayal. Kaito's was that of release. As awful as it was, he had been waiting to say that in the circumstance Meiko tried to end it with him. Maybe deep down he hadn't changed after all.

"I deserve better," Meiko said through gritted teeth.

"How can you do better than me?" Kaito barked a laugh. "Remind me again: how many guys were willing to give you a chance after you told them your secret? They all lied to you and said that it didn't matter, but the truth is all men want to marry a virgin."

"These same men being the ones who sleep around enough as it is already," Meiko countered. "Men are not loyal."

"You can't make a man's life hell and expect that he'll still want to stay together." Kaito was standing now. "Women have these insane standards for men, and yet they call men pigs for having their own preferences. Makes me wonder why we even try."

Meiko shook her head, tears filling her eyes. "Why do we even try?"

Before I could influence Kaito further, I felt someone grab me from behind. I acted to defend myself, but my attacker was too fast. Whoever got a hold of me ripped me out of Kaito's heart of hearts. I tried to break free, but resistance was futile. Thrown down to the tiled floors, I couldn't help but look up at the tall being who tossed me with ease.

Except my attacker wasn't tall.

My attacker just barely reached my nose in terms of height.

Worse, my attacker was smaller than me, but that didn't mean weaker by any means.

Baffled, I stared into the raging eyes of my other half. Fists tightly clenched, she glared at me as if she could see past every wall I put up and every lie I told. I feared she would crush my skull with her booted foot. I wished she would crush my skull with her booted foot.

"I hope you're pleased with yourself," she snarled. I whimpered. "Do you have any idea how long it's going to take to fix this mess?"

Gathering the little courage I had, I asked, "What do you care, Sister?"

Rin narrowed her eyes, brows furrowed in irritation and anger. "If you had any idea what I've been through these past few weeks, Brother, you wouldn't be so rude."

"You don't know what I've been through these past few weeks, either!" I spat.

That's when Rin's strong frame faltered, but only by a little. "I do know," she countered, softly. "I know everything. I know things you know, things you don't know, things you should know. We're not safe, Len. We both know that much. What you don't know is we are the Streamers' weapon. We are the ones the Streamers are going to use to destroy everything the Love People had represented for thousands of years."

The words didn't fully process inside my head. My ears rang. My vision blurred. Rin became less of a person with shape and color and became more of a figure without form.

"LET ME GO!"

I turned my attention ever so slightly to see Miku also being attacked, only she fought back. She fought viciously. Her attacker, a friend of mine since youth, did his best to restrain her. Then, all of a sudden, Miku slumped lifeless in his arms. For some reason, I couldn't shout at him. I didn't fill with anxiety over what he did to silence her so quickly. Perhaps I was grateful somebody shut Miku up so that I wouldn't have to do it myself.

Facing Rin again, I see a single tear stream down her cheek. _Don't cry,_ I wanted to say. _It's all right._ I don't know why I wanted to say that: we both knew nothing was all right.

Holding up a gun, Rin gently spoke the words "I'm sorry, Len" before she pulled the trigger.

* * *

"And then what happened?" the man asks, long ago discarding the paper and files of the interviewee. All he wants to do is call it a day and go home to his wife, but he still has another subject to interview. He sighs to himself. The first girl lied, so he knows he'll have to call her back and get the full story from her. Today is already a long one, and now it was going to drag out even longer.

"I died a horrible death," Len answers. "May I go now?"

"Your sister claimed that she never saw Kaito again," the man recalls, "yet your account counters that. She was there to stop you and Ms. Hatsune from breaking the couple up."

"Yeah, she was," Len says, "but I can't speak for her about this. Remember, I was unconscious for the mending of the relationship. I don't know what went down."

The man sighs again. "The boy with Ms. Kagamine," he begins, "is the same one you and Ms. Hatsune met the day you were attacked in the Love World?"

"Yep. Unfortunately for him, that was how he got involved."

"Forgive me for asking, but is this also the boy Ms. Kagamine kissed shortly after she ended Ms. Hatsune and Mr. Shion's relationship?"

"What?!" Len burst out laughing. "Rin kissed him? Oh, no way on earth! What makes you say such a thing?"

"Doesn't matter." The man gathers the sheets and puts them together without any form of organization. "Before I send you out, where did you later wake up?"

"The weirdest place a person in my situation can wake up." Len thinks a moment, figuring out how to word his answer. "What Rin told me when I asked was that I woke up in the place which started this mess in the first place."

 **End of Book III**

 **of**

 **The Love Vanishing Diaries**

* * *

 **Author's Note: After an unforeseen hiatus, I'm glad that I'm back to writing this novella series! I can tell that this isn't a fanfic that peaks a lot of interest, but I do enjoy writing it nonetheless. Technically, this is literary fiction - literary fan fiction? - so I'm pretty happy to discover that I've been trying my hand at the category whilst writing this series. There's definitely a lot to discover in this world, and I can't wait to explore it in later installments.**

 **For those who have been following, thank you so much for reading! You are very much appreciated. I hope that all who give this a chance enjoy this series regardless of how different it is. I hope to see you in the sequel!**

 **\- Fantastical**


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